A Cut of Meat for Any Holiday: Côte de Boeuf

I'm crazy about fried rice. It's like a blank canvas: You can open your fridge and with just a few ingredients make something incredibly flavorful. I traveled in Asia a little, and the best fried rice I ever had was in Vietnam, where they add all kinds of crazy stuff and there are always a lot of crunchy bits on top. Often they'll add off-cuts of meat like chicken hearts, tongue. But I think fried rice with a beautiful côte de boeuf, or rib steak, is tough to beat, because it has a really nice fat cap on it, which replicates some of the richness that they achieve with those other cuts, which aren't so common here.

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That's all côte de boeuf is: a cut of the beef rib. It's the same muscle as the rib eye, but higher up, near the shoulder. Very traditional, very French — and very pricey. It's a special cut, for a special meal. The soy butter addition I use at Fedora is borrowed from the French technique of topping steak with maître d' butter, which is simply butter with an added flavor. I use soy sauce, because soy sauce with beef is so good — think of a classic stir-fry.

Don't be intimidated by frying the rice. It's simple: You need a lot of heat, and you need to act quickly. (If it seems at all mysterious, there are plenty of good videos on YouTube.) If you have any leftover tongue or chicken hearts, by all means throw them in. But that's strictly optional.

Make soy butter one day in advance: Mix butter, soy, zest, and pepper with a wooden spoon in a small bowl. Wrap tightly in plastic, in the shape of a sausage. Put in the fridge.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Salt meat generously. Heat canola oil and butter in a cast-iron pan over high heat. When butter starts to brown and everything's smoking, place rib steak in pan. Don't move it around. When the first side reaches a deep brown color — about 5 minutes — turn and brown the other side, 3 to 4 minutes. Then place pan in preheated oven for about 10 minutes for medium-rare. Use a meat thermometer to check for internal temperature between 115 and 125 degrees.

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Let meat rest (note: internal temperature will rise to between 120 and 130)while you make the rice: Heat a wok (or thin metal pan or stainless-steel frying pan) over high heat until it's very hot, then add oil. Add rice and work it gently with a wooden spoon for about a minute. Add mushrooms and fry for another minute or two. When all that starts to caramelize, add the white parts of the scallions and fry for another minute, scraping with the spoon. At this point, you have to be quick and ready: Add eggs, letting them cook for a moment before breaking them up with the spoon. Deglaze pan with soy sauce, lemon juice, and honey. Once absorbed, turn heat off. (Rice should fry for about 5 to 6 minutes total.) Kick it with sriracha to taste, and add scallion greens.

Place rice on a platter. (If meat has cooled too much, warm it in the oven for 3 minutes.) Carve meat and set atop the rice.

Slice soy butter into 4 or 5 thin disks (reserving the rest for another use) and set atop the warm meat. Sprinkle a bit of sea salt on the steak. Squeeze half a lemon and crack some fresh black pepper on top of all that. Serve with sautéed greens — spinach, bok choy, whatever looks good. Serves 2 hungry people or 4 if following big appetizers.

*Available at most supermarkets, but in a pinch, stop by a sushi restaurant for a couple orders to go.

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